Recognizing the challenges of diagnosing breast cancer early, a team of French and Swiss researchers recently developed a smart bra with sensor technologies to try and solve this issue. What exactly did the engineers do, and why is this kind of technology so desperately needed?
Smart Bra Designed to Catch Breast Cancer Early
In what can only be described as a much needed development in medical technology, a team of French and Swiss researchers have developed a wearable “smart bra,” called the PHI-BRA, that is designed to help women detect potential signs of breast cancer without having to rely solely on conventional screening methods.
The idea behind the smart bra is that it will utilize sensors to gather data from the surface of a woman’s chest, with two different sensor technologies being used. The first of these sensors utilizes skin-surface thermography, whereby the temperature of the skin is carefully monitored. It is believed that as tumors develop, they can increase local blood flow and metabolic activity, potentially creating areas of increased temperature that can be identified by the sensor.
The second sensor utilizes electrical impedance spectroscopy, or EIS for short. Simply put, this technique uses surface electrodes to apply small electrical signals across the skin and carefully records the resulting electrical response. As changes occur within breast tissue, its electrical properties can also change, potentially allowing areas of abnormal tissue to be identified.
By combining these two technologies, the researchers hope that the smart bra will be able to identify potential abnormalities by looking at both metabolic activity through thermography and tissue structure through EIS. The collected data can then be analysed using AI, which can account for uncertainty in the measurements and identify patterns that could warrant further investigation.
While the bra is still in its infancy, other researchers have also developed wearable devices designed to aid in the early detection of breast abnormalities. For example, a team of researchers from MIT has created a smart bra that integrates a small ultrasound device directly onto the fabric.
So far, the MIT system has demonstrated the ability to detect cysts in breast tissue smaller than 0.3 cm, suggesting that wearable ultrasound could eventually provide another way of monitoring breast tissue outside of conventional clinical environments. Researchers are also working on using AI to analyse the ultrasound images and provide diagnostic recommendations, although the technology could still take several years before it becomes available to consumers.
As both research teams continue to develop their technologies, it is hoped that the combination of AI and medical sensors will provide women with more accessible ways of identifying potential problems at an earlier stage. However, technologies such as the PHI-BRA remain under development and will need to undergo further clinical testing before their effectiveness can be properly established.
Why is Such Technology so Important?
When it comes to cancer, it is often said that the best kind is the kind that is caught early, and in the case of breast cancer, this couldn’t be anymore true. Breast cancer is one of the more treatable forms of cancer when caught at an early stage, with almost 100% of women diagnosed with Stage 1 breast cancer surviving for five years or more.
However, as the disease progresses, the survival rate can fall dramatically. Around 90% of women with Stage 2 breast cancer survive for five years, compared with around 75% for Stage 3 and just over 30% for Stage 4.
This means that the difference between detecting breast cancer early and discovering it after it has progressed can be enormous. Earlier detection can provide more opportunities for treatment before the disease spreads, while later-stage cancers can require more intensive treatment and are associated with significantly poorer outcomes.
However, getting women to regularly monitor their breast health can be challenging. Breast screening can be uncomfortable, while some women may not feel an immediate sense of urgency when it comes to checking for potential symptoms. There can also be significant barriers to accessing screening, particularly for women who are not yet within the age range for routine mammography.
This is particularly important given the scale of the disease. The UK sees around 59,400 new breast cancer cases every year, equivalent to roughly 160 cases every day. Breast cancer also causes around 11,200 deaths every year in the UK, making it the second most common cause of cancer death among women.
These figures highlight why researchers are looking for new ways to make breast cancer detection easier and more accessible. If potential abnormalities can be identified earlier, patients can then be referred for appropriate clinical testing and treatment before the disease has an opportunity to progress.
And this is where technologies such as the PHI-BRA could eventually prove valuable. Rather than replacing mammography or other established diagnostic techniques, a wearable device that can monitor breast tissue could provide another tool for identifying potential problems and encouraging women to seek professional medical advice.
Considering that the vast majority of women wear bras at some point in their lives, the idea of incorporating medical sensors into something already worn by millions of people is certainly an interesting one. A smart bra capable of identifying potential abnormalities could provide a convenient way to monitor breast health, particularly for women who find conventional screening difficult or uncomfortable.
Of course, there is still a long way to go before smart bras become a routine part of breast cancer screening. Clinical trials will need to demonstrate that these technologies can reliably identify abnormalities without producing excessive false positives or false negatives.
But if researchers can overcome these challenges, wearable medical technology could provide another important tool in the fight against breast cancer. And when the difference between early and late detection can be measured in survival rates, any technology capable of helping identify the disease earlier is certainly worth investigating.
